


In vino veritas

by Alecto



Series: Fictober 2019 [13]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Biphobia, Bisexual Male Character, Brothers, Established Relationship, Fictober 2019, Insecurity, Kaijou Week 2019, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Pansexual Character, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21911581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecto/pseuds/Alecto
Summary: When Seto’s insecurities get the better of him, Mokuba has to talk his idiot brother back from the edge. Or at least beat some sense into him.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Mokuba & Kaiba Seto
Series: Fictober 2019 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1529003
Comments: 8
Kudos: 78





	In vino veritas

**Author's Note:**

> Fictober Day 23 prompt: “You can’t give more than yourself.” x Kaijou Week Day 4 prompt: "LGBT+"

Mokuba skidded to a stop and doubled back. Faint light filtered out from the crack in the door to his brother’s study. Strange. It was after 11PM on a Saturday. Seto should have better things (namely a specific someone) than more work to occupy his weekend night. Mokuba lingered in front of the door for a few moments before pushing open the heavy mahogany door. He found it nearly impossible to open on his own when he was ten. After they returned from Duelist Kingdom, Seto took to leaving it ajar for him. Nine years later, Seto still hadn’t broken the habit though Mokuba no longer needed the extra help. Mokuba took it as an invitation instead.

Seto’s study was lit solely by his desk lamp and the blue light of his computer monitors. In one sweeping glance, Mokuba noted the decanter of bourbon, a half-filled glass of amber liquid, and Seto’s stooped posture. He let the door fall shut behind him with a moaning creak. 

“Hey, Nii-sama, what you up to?” he approached the matching mahogany desk cautiously.

“Working,” Seto grunted. His eyes flickered away from his computer long enough to meet Mokuba’s before sliding back to whatever was on his screen. “I’m fine.”

“Right, cuz drinking alone on Saturday night is ‘fine’.” Mokuba bent over one corner of the foreboding desk. Spreadsheets covered every inch of Seto’s monitors. He pulled a face. Thank god, he rarely had to deal with finances.

Seto tapped his fingers on the wood before firing back in his own defense. “Plenty of people drink on Saturday nights.”

“Not alone. Unless you’re an alcoholic.” 

Mokuba dragged a chair from the other side next to Seto, propping his sock-clad feet up on top of the desk and sinking into the chair’s cushion. He folded his hands across his stomach and watched the light dance through the crystal decanter. Seto returned his attention to his rows and rows of boring numbers after one final disapproving look at Mokuba’s feet. He clearly banked on Mokuba losing interest and wandering off if Seto ignored him long enough. It was a move that stopped working after Mokuba turned fourteen. 

“I thought you’d be out with Jounouchi tonight,” said Mokuba after a few silent moments of watching his brother scroll past rows of numbers.

Seto winced with his entire body. The drinking had compromised his usual ability to hide his feelings under a blank mask.

Mokuba continued to prod, “Did you guys get into a fight or something?”

Seto and his not-but-sorta-totally-boyfriend didn’t fight as often as they used to as teenagers. The years had somewhat tempered Jounouchi. Definitely not a pushover, but he was no longer so quick to blow up over the smallest perceived slight. It helped that Seto had also mellowed too (though Mokuba would never say that to his brother’s face). So when the two fought, the results were often explosive, ending with slamming doors that echoed through the mansion halls then followed by days of icy silence that gave Mokuba frost-burn by proxy. Their eventual making up was probably worse, but Mokuba was happier not knowing the full details.

With his eyes still fixed on the glowing monitors, Seto drank from his tumbler. “No, I saw no need to accompany him tonight. He has plenty of company.”

Mokuba hummed and studied his brother’s profile out of the corner of his eye. He could easily read Seto’s “tells.” What his brother wouldn’t say out loud could be found in the errant twitch of his hand or how he shifted in his seat. Even so, the words Seto used hinted heavily to the source of his stress. It probably wasn’t because of Yuugi or any of the usual suspects. Seto had mostly buried the hatchet with Yuugi and company when he started not-dating Jounouchi. To no one’s surprise (least of all Mokuba’s), the relationship had only drawn his brother deeper into Yuugi and company’s collective orbit. Seto went to gatherings at Yuugi’s game shop and they occasionally hung out at the mansion. Not too often, but enough to suggest Seto didn’t object to the company.

After drawing a blank again and again, Mokuba thought it best to ask. His brother usually appreciated the straightforwardness. “So whose company are you avoiding then?”

Seto took two long sips from his drink, glassy-eyed under the reflected blue light. “Kujaku Mai,” he admitted with a heaving sigh.

Mokuba blinked owlishly before straightening in his seat. Jounouchi and Mai had always been close. That was plain to see for everyone since Battle City. “Okay, I would think that’s all the more reason to go with Jounouchi. Rub your relationship in her face.”

Mokuba wasn’t ten and blind to his brother’s flaws anymore. At his worst, Seto could be petty, obsessive, and pigheaded. Lording his victory over others was _the_ patented Kaiba Seto move. Seto had been perfecting his technique since he was fifteen. It was just so out of character for him to pass on the chance to antagonize Mai. If he was jealous, he should be even more eager to guard Jounouchi like how a dragon hoarded its gold.

Seto was glaring into the tumbler, but something more mournful tugged at his brow. Mokuba's frown deepened as he read his brother’s face.

Unless Seto didn’t think he’d emerged triumphant. 

He directed an incredulous expression at Seto. “You know he’s with you, right? Jounouchi’s not going to leave you for Mai.”

“Maybe not today,” Seto muttered morosely into his bourbon. The unspoken “but someday” hung between them.

Mokuba fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. His genius brother could be such an idiot sometimes. “Jounouchi’s had plenty of chances to get together with Mai if he wanted to. There are probably good reasons he never did. Don’t forget about the age difference. You’re being paranoid, Nii-sama. In fact, I think the liquor is making you stupid.”

Mokuba snatched the half-full decanter away and stood. He returned it to the cabinet on the other side of the study. When he turned back toward Seto, his brother was hunched forward over his desk, hands folded together and pressed to his forehead. Mokuba could no longer see his expression, but his entire posture screamed defeat.

“If not Kujaku, then someone else. Some other woman. Jounouchi... He isn’t like me. He has options.” Seto declared, bitter and sour.

Without thinking, Mokuba stomped back over to his brother’s side and smacked him on the shoulder. 

Seto yelped and almost fell out of his chair. “What was that for?”

“For being an idiot,” Mokuba snarled and crossed his arms over his chest. 

Seto rolled his eyes and slumped back in his seat. “I’m only stating the truth, Mokuba. Given a choice, wouldn’t any reasonable person choose the road of least resistance? Why would anyone choose the scrutiny or prejudice?”

Whack. He smacked Seto again.

“Stop that, Mokuba!”

“Only if you stop acting like an idiot! Goddammit, you’re the dumbest smart person I know, Nii-sama.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, little brother.” 

Seto reached for his bourbon again, but Mokuba intercepted and emptied it into a nearby potted plant. After he set the empty tumbler on the desk, he lowered himself into his chair and looked Seto straight in the eyes. “No, I get to call you on your bullshit. I’ve earned that much after all the crap you’ve pulled over the years. So you’ll keep your mouth shut until I’m done talking.”

Seto opened his mouth to speak, but Mokuba cut him off with another glare. Seto shut his mouth begrudgingly.

“And be glad Jounouchi didn’t hear any of what you said. I wouldn’t be surprised if he dumped you if he did. I wouldn’t even feel sorry for you. I mean, I’ve broken up with people for way less.” Mokuba sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “You may think it’s easier, but it’s not. Not when half the guys you date think you’ll jump to a girl at the first chance. It hurts when people doubt your feelings like that. If Jounouchi really wanted the easy ‘choice’, he wouldn’t be dating your sorry ass in the first place. I love you, Nii-sama, but you are anything but easy to live with. Or deal with.”

Seto’s gaze fell to his lap where he demurely folded his hands. He wrung them briefly before forcing himself to still. “I know that better than you think. I know I sometimes infuriate him. I fear that we’re one fight away from him storming out of my life forever. What if someday I—this is no longer enough?”

The anger bled out of Mokuba. Seto was still an ass for saying what he said, but his own insecurities laid at the root. His pigheaded brother who used to equate losing with death. Who didn’t know how to handle the idea of affection from anyone but Mokuba for years and years. Mokuba wondered how often his brother looked at Jounouchi and saw an invisible countdown to some inevitable ending. 

“Do you care about Jounouchi?” he asked quietly, not knowing if Seto would answer. “Do you want to be with him?”

After a long silent beat and a shuddering exhale, Seto said, “I do.”

“Then be with him. Stop second-guessing everything, especially Jounouchi’s feelings or his commitment. You’ll only ruin what you have. It’s not fair to Jounouchi. Or you. You can’t give more than yourself. Neither can he.” Mokuba took his brother’s hand and squeezed. 

Seto returned the squeeze with a watery smile. “Thank you, Mokuba. Where would I be without you?”

Mokuba shrugged before flippantly replying, “I dunno, holed up in a patented KC space station?”

Seto laughed. It was a sharp and abrupt sound that reminded Mokuba of a goose’s honk. In response, a slow smile spread across Mokuba’s lips. 

He pulled his brother to his feet and drew him away from the desk. “Come on, let’s go downstairs. You owe me at least three rounds of Tekken after that.”

“You’ll lose.”

“Keep telling yourself that, old man.”

**Author's Note:**

> Mokuba is here for that bi/pan solidarity.


End file.
